


Tearing Itself Apart

by starsinger



Series: In the Beginning [7]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Hurt Jim
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-18
Updated: 2014-02-28
Packaged: 2018-01-05 02:17:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1088420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsinger/pseuds/starsinger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Enterprise stop by a planet with a small, mixed colony for a layover, only to find themselves helping with a planet-wide emergency.  Don’t own them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I rewrote this FIVE times, and I’m somewhat happier with this rewrite. Please, comment and Kudos, that would be the best Holiday gift I could have.

Jim’s comm went off. He was on-planet for a mini-shoreleave. Chris was due down later that day, and he and Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov were relaxing in a café in one of the many towns and villages that dotted the planet. The colony was small, only about five thousand people lived here. “Kirk here,” Jim responded.

“Captain, we just recorded an object entering the planet’s crust,” Spock’s voice responded.

“Is this a problem?” Kirk asked.

“It appears to be making changes to the planet itself. The planet will tear itself apart in 2.6 hours,” the Vulcan replied.

“Contact the planet administrator and any local ships in the area, let’s get people off the planet,” Kirk replied getting up from where he sat. The others around the table rose also. The Enterprise couldn’t hold all the colonists. Moments after the group stood, a ground quake shook the village, throwing them to the ground. In the distance, they could see volcanoes spouting to life.

The colony administrator arrive in moments at their location, “Captain, can you help us?” she asked. She was understandably a little panicky.

“We’re sending down shuttles to help evacuate the colonists. We’ve called in every available vessel in the area,” Jim responded. His comm went off again. “Kirk.”

“Sir, we have three Vulcan ships, two Klingon vessels and five Starfleet vessels on their way. The Vulcan ships should be landing on the planet in ten minutes, and the Klingons in about half an hour,” Spock responded.

“Will that be enough?” Kirk asked.

“We’ll make it work, Captain,” Spock responded. He was right, it might be tight, but they’d make it work.

“Spock, what was the object that entered the crust? Where did it come from?” Kirk asked.

“I do not know, Captain, I’m also working on that,” Spock responded.

The Klingons were remarkably cooperative. Many of the colonists were Klingon and they only wanted to ensure their safety. Kirk, frankly, didn’t care what species they were, as long as they got off the planet. Toward the end of the evacuation the air became toxic and gas masks were passed out among those remaining waiting to be evacuated. The evacuation was as orderly as it could, but some colonists still managed to panic. Jim was about to shut the hatch as he turned, hearing a woman screaming. He looked out and saw a little girl standing outside crying, hanging onto a stuffed animal.

“Crap,” Jim muttered as he ran out onto the heated ground and grabbed the little girl before heading back to the shuttle. A lieutenant turned from helping another passenger strap in and watched in horror as a large rock struck the Captainbefore he made into the hatch. Without another thought she ran down the ramp, grabbing the little girl and thrusting her toward her waiting mother before getting the Captainup by his shoulders and dragging him into the shuttle. She hit the hatch and yelled at the pilot to get them out of here.

The ride was bumpy as the atmosphere heated up, everybody hung on, and a few prayers could be heard being uttered. Then they were clear of the planet and the turbulence stopped. The lieutenant ran for the cockpit. “Call the Enterprise. We need medical to meet us in the shuttlebay. The Captain was injured.”

The pilot looked at the lieutenant, “You’re not so good yourself, Ma’am. I suggest you go wait with the Captain.” Lieutenant Lisa Gemans looked down to find burns covering her arms. She nodded to the pilot and reentered the cabin. The mother of the little girl Kirk and Lisa rescued was kneeling beside the Captain, the good news was Kirk was breathing. No one was going to move him, unsure where he was hit.

The woman and her daughter were Klingon, and profusely grateful for their help. The shuttle docked and the hatch soon opened from the outside as the medical team outside overrode the outer locks. Lisa found herself in quite a bit of pain as the burns asserted their presence. She opened her eyes to see Dr. McCoy kneeling beside Jim and scanning him with a tricorder. She heard him sigh, “We’re lucky, the rocks missed his spine and head. Take him to Sickbay and have Geoff perform a full work-up. I’ll be up there soon.” Lisa watched as the Captain’s body was transferred to a gurney. McCoy scanned Lisa, “Bet that hurts like hell,” he said with a grin. Lisa nodded, gritting her teeth. He pulled out a hypo, “This will help with the pain, and start the burns to healing. You’re lucky, no third degree burns, but you’ll be spending some time in Sickbay.”

Spock later visited Sickbay. They’d managed to cram all six thousand colonists into the ships that made it in time, and planets nearby were volunteering to take the colonists, “How are the injured, Doctor?”

“We had many colonists injured, and we’re treating them. No fatalities, thankfully, Jim is out of surgery and recovering. He broke his leg in three places rescuing the little girl. I don’t know who’s worse, though, his husband or that little girl’s mother. She’s been hovering over both Jim and Lisa, the lieutenant who pulled them aboard the shuttle, since we arrived. Klingon’s are fiercely protective of their offspring, and, apparently, those who help them.”

“Frankly, Doctor, I’d be surprised if they weren’t,” Spock responded. “They are a passionate species.”

Bones nodded. Jim, the little girl, and the lieutenant had all sustained burns and they would all be staying in Sickbay for the near future. “Have you learned anything about who might have destroyed that planet?”

“After we unload these passengers we’ll be following the trajectory of that…whatever it was. The odds that this was an isolated incident aren’t very good.”

“Are you saying we may be following a debris field?” Bones asked.

Spock actually sighed, “I would be surprised if we didn’t.”

 

.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas: TOS: Star Trek Glasses: Kirk (Shatner), Spock (Nimoy), McCoy (Kelley), and Uhura (Nichols) from my brother and his family, have people on facebook already threatening to come over and steal them. Atari Flashback from my Mom with 75 preloaded games including Centipede and Space Invaders, have people volunteering to come over and help me play. Good Christmas! lol Patients start coming around and letting loved ones/willing crewmembers to take care of them. Not that Jim has problems finding a volunteer with Chris around. Jim’s not particularly worried leaving Spock in command, Chris can help if he needs it, but now they’re starting. The inspiration for the basis of the alien technology comes from a novel from Greg Bear called “The Forge of God”. Unseen aliens sent drills into the earth’s crust and tore the planet apart. Other aliens sent some ships and rescued portions of the Earth’s population (humans, plants, microbe, animals…) and moved them all to Mars and kept them in stasis while they prepped Mars for habitation. It’s very good, but a little dated, it was written in 1987, before the Internet. Don’t own them.

Spock stood on the bridge of the Enterprise. They were tasked with documenting the destruction of the planet. Spock told Starfleet that the ship was overcrowded and they needed to offload those passengers immediately, ie: nearest willing planet. Admiral Barnett was firm, and they were stuck. An hour into the observation ships started arriving to take the passengers to different locations. Only the most critically injured colonists stayed aboard the Enterprise until a hospital ship arrived, or they got away to a nearby Starbase/Colony.

Spock sighed as he watched the now molten planet slowly pull apart. It looked like the reverse process of the Universe’s creation process. Chris stood beside him, letting out a long sigh, “Only so many habitable planets in the universe, and someone has to destroy this one. Have you found a trail, yet?”

“We believe we have. Sulu, first set course for Betazed. We have injured passengers to drop off. If what I suspect is true, the planets on this trail are already gone and they could wait for the two day detour to Betazed. McCoy is debating whether or not to leave Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Gemans there while we pursue this mission.”

“Yeah, even he admits that the extensive burns might be beyond Sickbay’s ability to completely heal them,” Chris swallowed. “I’ll stay on the Enterprise if you need me to.”

Spock considered the offer, “Chris, you’re not going to be able to concentrate on our mission if your mind, and your husband, are light years away from here. Stay with Jim.” Chris smiled his gratitude. Spock turned to Dr. Marcus, “Any ideas as to the weapons used?”

“Five drills were used to tunnel just under the planet’s crust. They released drones that went to work underneath by disrupting the normal geological processes underneath. These drones replicated themselves and are, as we speak, still at work.” She waved them over to a monitor where they could see the not so small machines working at the rock and minerals that had once comprised a living breathing planet. “We were fortunate that we were able to get everyone off. Problem is, I performed analyses on the drills, and they’re two to three thousand years old. There’s no telling if the civilization that created these weapons still exists. The weapons are self-replicating.”

“Any good news?” Chris asked.

“It’ll take years for these drills to get enough materials together to send out more of themselves. Bad news? We don’t know how many of them are out there.”

“Can you beam one of those drones on board? It might help us identify where they initially came from,” Spock asked.

“Shuttle Bay 5, Commander. I managed a piece of one of the drills. We’ll have better luck of trace minerals of the original system from them than the drones, although I’m not holding my breath.”

“Thank you, Doctor. Are you joining me?” Spock asked. Carol rose from her seat, grabbing a tricorder and PADD, and heading to the turbolift. The piece of drill in the shuttle bay took up half the bay. Carol started running her tricorder over the metal noting all the metallurgic substances that would indicate its origin. “Commander, I could be mistaken, but I think these metals will simply lead us to the next destroyed planet, but if we can find more machines like this, or their remnants…”

“We can follow the trail back to its true origins,” Carol admitted. Carol cross matched the minerals with the ship’s database. “This goes back to system PT-2374,” Carol said. “When the system was mapped, it was noted that the area of the system where a habitable planet would orbit the sun was an asteroid belt. It appeared to be relatively recent, two-three hundred years recent, it was thought it was a natural occurrence.”

“Dr. McCoy to Admiral Pike,” a voice sounded over the whistle.

Chris walked over to a wall unit, “Pike here, Doctor. What is it?”

“Jim’s awake, and we need to make some decisions,” McCoy replied.

“I’m on my way,” Chris replied. He turned to his cohorts, “We’ll talk before Jim and I leave the ship, Spock. I asked for someone to take my place while I’m gone. He’s not Starfleet, but he has first contact experience and might come in handy.” Spock nodded as Chris hurried off. Marcus continued her scans of the drill.

Two hours later the Enterprise had arrived at Betazed and the medical shuttle was loaded with the final passengers: Jim, Lisa, and the little Klingon girl and her mother. Spock spoke to Jim before they left, “We’ll be back for you when we’ve tracked the source of the planet killers down.”

Jim looked down at the wraps around much of his body, helping heal the burns sustained on the colony world, “Good luck, Mr. Spock.” McCoy was coming with him to Betazed, he was issuing last instructions to M’Benga. “What are we doing to keep this from happening to another unfortunate planet?”

“The USS Bexar is staying behind to monitor the machine makers. With any luck, they’ll be able to put out warning, and/or destroy any more machines before they leave the system. If history is anything to be said, it should take several centuries for that to happen,” Spock responded.

Jim nodded his head, “Good luck, Mr. Spock.” Spock nodded his head as he watched the last of the passengers being loaded into the shuttle. He turned back to the ship and went back to the mystery that was a planet killer.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jim and Chris experience Betazoid healing, and Spock discovers who has been sent to help. Don’t own them.

Chris watched as two Betazoid medics hovered over Jim. They were extremely professional. Most Betazoids did not like speaking aloud, but those who attended this wing always communicated where each species could hear them. Human were receptive to their telepathic abilities, but most were uncomfortable with that kind of speech. Chris, hell, he didn’t care as long as they told him what he wanted to know. The one thing Jim liked was that they could treat him without drugs. Many of their healers knew which parts of the brain to “lean” on to keep the patient alert and comfortable as possible while they were being treated. That didn’t work with all species of course, but with no hypos or needles in sight, the little Klingon girl was much more helpful with her treatment.

Marian Idwin was the healer attached to Jim and Chris. She smiled and talked the entire way through the treatment, even if it was just changing bandages. Most of the time it was just informing them what she was doing. Once she even asked the nature of their relationship. It didn’t change how she dealt with them, but she seemed even friendlier knowing that they were more than just friends. “Could you help me turn him, Chris?” she asked their first day there. Chris looked at her, “We’re telepathic, not telekinetic, we still have to lift the old fashioned way. I’ve always found it helpful to include any loved ones in the treatment of patients.”

Chris was grateful, but he felt responsible for everyone from the Enterprise here. He helped with Lieutenant Gemans as well. Lisa smiled ruefully that he was touching her in places that she would normally be uncomfortable having a man touch her in. “Except me,” Chris grinned.

“Well, you or the Captain,” she replied. “What’s the difference between Betazoid and Vulcan healers?” she asked.

“Discipline, mostly,” Marian replied. “We’re both trained to heal with the mind firmly at the center of it. As touch telepaths, though, their ability to help suppress pain is limited to touching someone, ours isn’t. On the other hand, their healing trances leave us, well, frankly envious.” Marian applied a cream to Lisa’s back, “One other minor detail. Vulcans won’t lie, not can’t, they are fully capable of telling an untruth. Betazoids on the other hand, well, we really can’t. What’s the point when everybody would instantly know you’re lying?”

Chris and Lisa looked at each other, neither had thought about that. Chris went back to Jim’s bedside as Marian started removing his own bandages. “Good, no signs of infection, burns are healing nicely. Where did he get all these scars?” she asked.

“Tarsus IV,” Jim replied, his eyes closed.

Marian’s eyes widened, but she didn’t say anything about it as she continued her treatment. “Well, Captain, you’ll have new scars to tell stories about. We’ll run a regen unit over them when they’re healed enough for that, though.” Jim nodded.

Chris held his hand after they were done, “I wonder how the Enterprise is getting in their investigation?” Jim asked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Spock stood at attention, quietly awaiting the arrival of their guest Chris had promised. Sure enough, the figure that stepped off the shuttle surprised him, “Father,” he responded.

“Spock,” Sarek said, looking at the younger man. “I understand you have an enigma.” Spock nodded and turned toward the corridor, Sarek following. He explained the events leading up to this point, “So, you think that finding the source of these missiles might lead to some answers?” Sarek asked.

“I’m not sure the answers are going to be easy to come by. We’ve found a path of destruction leading fifty light years, and the age of destruction is getting older and older. The last we found happened approximately 600 years ago.”

“And the analysis of the hull of one of the ‘missiles’ suggested it was thousands of years old,” Sarek responded.

“At this point, we’re wondering if they’re programmed this way, or if they’re on automatic pilot, so to speak. And each planet destroyed was in the ‘Goldilock’s Zone’,” Spock concluded.

“Capable of supporting life zone,” Sarek mused. “This cannot be coincidence.”

“I agree, Father, but what is the connection?” Spock responded. “We’ve already determined which planet is likely to be hit next. It’s a small planet, with a primitive civilization right now. But when those missiles are ready to move on, they might not be so primitive.”

“The goal…” Sarek asked.

“Find the people who started this, and hopefully convince them to shut the program down,” Spock said. “If not, we may have to take drastic measures to stop it ourselves.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long, and disheartening search, the Enterprise finds something encouraging, the descendants of survivors. Don’t own them.

“Commander,” Sulu announced, “you’re not going to believe this.”

“What is it, Lieutenant?” Spock responded.

“Well, this system was attacked approximately two thousand years ago, but the system is still inhabited. The fourth planet looks as if it has been terraformed, and we just nearly got hit by a spaceship that tried to go to warp. My guess is it’s their first warp ship.”

Spock paused, “They’ve seen us.”

“Yes, and are trying to make contact. Communications and the Universal Translator are working on it, but we just made First Contact.”

“Inform Starfleet and let me know when communications can begin,” Spock told him.

Sarek joined them when everything was in place. It was an interesting mix of species that met on the Enterprise. One third was a mostly aquatic species that could live comfortably in the water or not so comfortably on the land. The second was a mostly land species that could survive in the water. The third was one that had adapted to the Mars type world that they had come to live on. It had only been in the last two hundred years that this planet had water that the aquatic Antareans could now live. They had spent the longest time in suspended animation.

“Do you know why you fled your world?” Sarek asked carefully.

One of the desert dwellers looked up, “Because they destroyed our world.”

“Do you know who?” Spock asked.

* * *

_Karemia was a bright child of nine, who traveled the world’s oceans on a raft, or swam, towing the raft behind her. She and her family had been traders for as long as she could remember, perhaps longer. Every year a different member of her family undertook this duty and spent a year trading with the landers and bringing the goods back to the family so they make their living underneath the waters. Karemia was nearing the end of her year, and was waiting above her village for her father to fetch her. It was then a bright light approached her and splashed down in front of her. It was a craft of some kind, completely enclosed, and she was unsure what to do._

_A hatch opened as an alien emerged, “Quickly, we must warn your world. You have three weeks before your world dies and your people with it.”_

_Karemia immediately informed her family. Many were reluctant to believe this intruder, but they and many others decided to trust him. They spent the three weeks gathering specimens and warning people of the coming doom. The day before the prophesied day, many gathered together to board the craft that was coming for them. There were many who scoffed at the gathering, telling them they were fools and would soon be slaves. Karemia ignored them and went on board with her family._

_They had just reached the fourth planet when the bombs came. They watched as those left behind died as the world tore itself apart._

* * *

An elderly Aquatic Antarean stood, “I am Karemia. They brought me out of sleep one hundred years ago, and for the first time in two millennia, I swam freely in the depths of an ocean.”

“Who were these aliens?” Uhura asked.

“We don’t know, they never identified themselves. They genetically modified some of us so that we could survive without them on this planet. They moved on once they were successful. They gave us this map, we were hoping to use it find those who caused our home’s destruction and exact revenge.”

Spock nodded, “This will help us get there much faster.”

Spock raised an eyebrow as the Antareans descended into a squabble to determine who would go with the Enterprise to find the destroyers. In the end, Karemia won.

* * *

“I can understand their desire for revenge, Spock,” Chris told him later. “Are you headed straight there?”

“That is our plan, Admiral. Is the captain still not in shape to join us?”

Chris sighed, looking back at his husband who was charming his nurses, “No, they say we’ll be ready to be picked up in another couple of weeks.”

“Until then, Admiral,” Spock replied signing off.

Chris turned back to Jim whose burns had completely healed, and the leg was well on its way to doing just that, Lisa smiled at him as well as Chris joined them, “Enterprise just made a huge breakthrough, and first contact all at once.” He explained what happened.

Jim nodded, normally first contact was a very touchy situation where everything was slow going. It was first contact with the Klingons that precipitated the Prime Directive. “The Federations is going to keep in contact with them?” Jim asked.

“That’s the plan,” Chris responded stabbing at his salad. “Too late to hide now. Let them know what’s out there, and offer them Federation membership.”

“Standard Operating Procedures,” Jim mused as he watched the young Klingon girl play in the surf with her mother. He leaned over to take a bite of a fruit that Chris offered.

“You know, you just proposed marriage,” one of the nurses said with a laugh.

Chris chuckled, “What does it mean if we’re already married?”

“A long and happy life together,” came the response.


End file.
